Daily Fiber

Creative Practice Guiding Principles

Posted on November 25, 2020November 22, 2020 by Laura Kate

One: Honor and appreciate this moment in time, and your tools and materials

Working within your budget, acquire the best tools and materials that you can afford. This means cotton paper, a well made paintbrush and a set of paints in colors that you love.

Two: Show up every day

Art making can become an integral part of your life. Commit to at least fifteen minutes to paint, at a time and in a space where you can be free of distractions.

Three: Set an intention and take inspiration from a place of beauty: poetry, art, music, literature, nature, beautiful objects.

Four: Share your joy. Your daily exercises will be painted on small sheets of paper. Make multiples each day. Give some away to those you love.

These three exercises focus on broad brush strokes, mixing and mingling the paint on the paper, and watching how the colors resolve.

Guiding principles quoted from “Watercolor is for Everyone, by Kateri Ewing.

Home | Kateri Ewing

colorwork, knitting

Cast on Monday – Deep Stash

Posted on November 23, 2020November 22, 2020 by Laura Kate

With the success of the rose window hat…..

https://dailyfiberfun.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/another-f-o-friday/

……using this Tunis breed hand painted yarn, I am now keen to make matching gloves. The bright green sock yarn that I paired it with for the hat is almost gone. So I will need another coordinating yarn if I want to add colorwork to the gloves.

After a lengthy rummage to the back of my yarn closet, I came up with some two-ply wool in a pleasing shade of teal. This yarn is Palette, from Knitpicks. Almost a full skein, it has been languishing in the back of the stash for at least seven years. How fortunate that the color goes so well with the multi-hued Tunis.

You see that a cuff is underway. I made an I-cord about 7 inches long, joined its ends and picked up stitches all along. The 2 x 2 rib will give enough stretch. Now I must decide on the stitch pattern for the palm.

I plan to use a basic glove pattern similar to this one.

Instead of regular stripes, I will go with a mosaic, or slip stitch, pattern. I have a hankering to try this one, designed by Naomi at String Geekery. It is called Sea.

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/40644630/posts/2711862773

I like the vertical element and think it will work well in a glove.

Hm, best make a swatch first. See you later,

Laura Kate

painting

Study in Nature: Bluebird and Cherry Blossoms

Posted on November 21, 2020 by Laura Kate

Today I spent a leisurely afternoon following a tutorial by Kateri Ewing painting this bird. This little bluebird of happiness lived up to his reputation – he brought me happiness in the form of satisfaction with my efforts. I am happy with every detail of my work, except the cluster of blossoms in front of the bird’s left foot. That seems to be a hot mess.

On a more positive note, I highly recommend Kateri’s tutorials. She has a gentle, but enthusiastic teaching style and clearly loves water color painting. You can find the links to her classes here:

CRAFTSY | BLUPRINT | Kateri Ewing

My local library has just acquired her new book, “Watercolor is for Everyone.” I managed to be the first person to check it out. The book is in the how-to genre, specifically, how to develop a daily creative practice. I know there are a ton of this type of book on the market. But this one seemed right for me. I was in immediate need of emotional support for my creative efforts.

Kateri’s book guides the reader through a 21 day program of making intuitive, process-based art. There are no reference images, and very few technical instructions. The most important instruction she gives is that you give up on your expectation for results. Just show up everyday and paint for 15 minutes, minimum, drawing on your feelings and your imagination.

The process is definitely calming and even meditative.

Over the next few posts I will share some of my results from these lessons.

colorwork, knitting

Another F.O. Friday

Posted on November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 by Laura Kate

Well, it started out as a bad knitting week. The hat that I cast on the prior week was progressing. But it seemed to be pretty small for an adult hat. After I knit a few inches of the 1 x 1 ribbing, I took a quick measurement. My measurement suggested that it was indeed too small. So I started again, but knit the next larger size. In the bigger size, the ribbing took forever to knit. I rejoiced when I got to the crown. The colorwork was quite fun and I worked quickly to the bind off.

Immediately after I took it off the needle I knew I was in trouble. It was so big! There’s no way that this hat would stay put on my head. Even after washing and drying (I tossed it in a warm dryer to try to shrink it a little,) it was huge.

There ensued a few days of low spirits. (The news cycle, of course, made me feel even worse.) Eventually I stopped moping and tried to solve my problem. My first thought was to cut off the ribbing, pick up the stitches, knitting several together, and work down to the edge. But then I decided to fold the brim in half, folding to the inside and whip stitch it in place. That’s a little better. What if I added a hat band with less stretch in a slightly smaller diameter………..

I found a coordinating color yarn in my stash and cut six lengths. These were crocheted into a chain about 21 inches long. Stretching the chain slightly, I sewed it around the upper part of the ribbing, where a hat band is generally located.

Bingo! Problem solved.

And I have enough variegated yarn left to knit a pair of gloves.

painting

Red Doors

Posted on November 15, 2020 by Laura Kate

Last week I took my camera along during a walk through the neighborhood. My goal was to capture images of the trees dressed up in their autumn splendor. I didn’t do well. Every time I framed up a nice shot, the sun went behind a cloud. So the photos did not come out as wished. I did get a nice shot or two of this front porch scene.

I was drawn to the red door, accented quite smartly by two red chairs. Today I got out my water colors and painted this interpretation in my sketchbook.